Thanks for the sneak peak. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Some video of the rack and everything working together would be wonderful!

Well the rack itself will not really do anything very photogenic when in operation... and the rack itself at the show will be located at the centre of the stand and will not be visible to visitors (although we will take people who are interested behind the scenes to look at it if they wish too).

One of the challenges with good home automation, where you've spent time, money & effort to hide the technology, is to find a way to capture that in a video presentation! However i will try and shoot some video at the show and post that here for all to see.

Could you tell me how much your sky multiroom kit is or tell me what i would need to connect 2 skyhd boxes to my NC30.

Thanks

Barry

You will need a Sky Control Pack (uses a Dusky RF2 control interface for two Sky boxes) for control of the SkyHD boxes. Then you will need to distribute the HD video from the two Sky boxes to a number of Zones or rooms. Depending on what you are trying to achieve this will have variable cost. How many zones will need to receive HD video and will any be SD only (these can be achieved with less costly video distribution). The HD zones will either use an HDMI matrix with at least 2 inputs and n outputs (n being the number of HD zones you require). Alternatively you could go with an IP based matrix which would use 2x HDMI-IP Transmitters for the SkyHD boxes and n HDMI-IP Receivers (one per HD Zone) all switched through a CISCO managed switch. The IP Based Matrix is typically more expensive for less than 6 HD Zones.

Let me know how many HD zones you require and if there are any SD zones and I will PM you an estimated cost.

Andrew, to use a HDMI-Matrix you need to have a HDMI-Cable from one central point to all of the TVs? Do you know any converters to avoid this? I found some of them but all of them require two Cat-Cables per HDMI-Cable (which i don't have i could only spend one).

The IP-Based-Matrix you're talking about is VERY nice but unfortunately pretty expensive...

Andrew, to use a HDMI-Matrix you need to have a HDMI-Cable from one central point to all of the TVs? Do you know any converters to avoid this? I found some of them but all of them require two Cat-Cables per HDMI-Cable (which i don't have i could only spend one).

Re aboveWell unless your installation is in a very small apartment you would use HDMI-CAT5/6 extenders to extend the limited range of HDMI cables. These HDMI-CAT5/6 extenders can use either 1 or 2 CAT5/6 cables. Typically the ones that use a single CAT5/6 have a smaller range than twin cable models - 60M for single and about 100M typically for twins. The HDMI matrix's we usually use have single CAT5/6 interfaces built in and then just require a HDMI-CAT5/6 Receiver at the display end.

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The IP-Based-Matrix you're talking about is VERY nice but unfortunately pretty expensive...

Yes as i said the IP-Matrix solution is more expensive at smaller sizes... but as you scale up to larger numbers of Rooms/Zones the economics and flexibility become just too compelling to ignore.

Hmm, isn't an HD-PVR the way to get HD content into the system? Or am I missing something here?

Well the HD-PVR is the best way to capture component video for sure alongside MythTV. But SkyHD boxes have no component out - they only have HDMI for HD output. So realistically some form of HDMI distribution is the only option for full HD picture quality.

Apart from HDMI vs Component (which can easily be rectified using a HDFury) are there other reason to not use an HD-PVR?

Well here in the UK the SkyHD box is the mainstream Sat PVR/STB. Its UI and operation is burned into the 'soul' of every man, woman & child (very unfortunately lol!!!) so the advantage of HDMI distribution is that we can present the 'standard' and very familiar SkyHD UI on every TV and we can use the Orbiter to remotely control the UI. UK customers like that combination and are willing to gain that familiarity & ease of use while loosing the flexibility of storing the recordings from say an HD-PVR centrally.

We used to offer both options to our customers but we found almost all customers went with the more limited but familiar HDMI distribution option.

Shot of part of Dianemo's UK distributor RedLine's stand at the CEDIA Home Technology Event in London 28-30 June 2011. In the display to the left you can see an MK Astral ZWave lighting panel demonstrating Astral ZWave light switches integrated with Dianemo and on the right you can see a Panasonic 55" Plasmas being driven by a Dianemo S10 Pro Range Media Manager. The Panasonic has a side mounted Artison Line Array 3.1 speaker system driven by a Pioneer Surround Receiver. This is one of 5 Zones driven by a Dianemo S16v Pro Range NerveCentre.